The Supervisory Relationship: A Contemporary Psychodynamic Approach [Hardcover]

Mary Gail Frawley-O'Dea (Author), Joan E. Sarnat (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 6, 2000 | ISBN-10: 1572306211 | ISBN-13: 978-1572306219 | Edition: 1

In the past two decades, many psychodynamic therapists have begun to view the relational processes taking place between patient and therapist as a central source of transformation. Yet traditional paradigms of clinical supervision, focusing primarily on didactic teaching, have limitations for training therapists to work in these new ways. This groundbreaking volume is the first to elaborate a comprehensive contemporary model of supervision. Using a wealth of examples and vignettes, the authors show how working within the vicissitudes of the supervisory relationship can allow the supervisee to gain a deeper understanding of the treatment method being taught. Key topics discussed include issues of power and authority, regression in the supervisory relationship, rethinking the "teach/treat" question, parallel process as a relational phenomenon, working with group process in case conference, and the role of the organization in supporting training.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"This book makes a major contribution to the literature. Thoughtful, scholarly, and readable, it deals with contemporary relational supervision based upon mutuality between supervisor and supervisee. This teaching-learning-experiential matrix is cogently presented and demonstrated with lively vignettes. There is much here for experienced supervisors seeking an update, novice supervisors learning the craft, and supervisors of case conferences, as well as students who are interested in how supervision works." --Leopold Caligor, PhD, Training Analyst, William Alanson White Institute; Coeditor of Clinical Perspectives on the Supervision of Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy

"Over the past couple of decades, psychoanalysis has been undergoing a thorough reevaluation, recasting, and revision of all its fundamental concepts, in terms of both theory and clinical practice. Many new angles and fresh ideas about supervision have been introduced, but there has until now been no comprehensive, comparative text exploring different models of supervision, their theoretical underpinnings, and their clinical implications. This book is a timely, much-needed project. In its thoughtfulness and thoroughness, it should be of considerable use as a text for all levels of clinical training and as a stimulus for new thinking for clinicians of all persuasions." --Stephen A. Mitchell, PhD, Founding Editor, Psychoanalytic Dialogues: A Journal of Relational Perspectives

"This book provides a definitive relational approach to psychoanalytic supervision, and it does more. The authors give us an evenhanded and illuminating account of major psychoanalytic perspectives on supervision, making their points additively rather than by criticism and dismissal of alternate views. They address potential faultlines and dilemmas that all supervisors have felt at one time or another: transferences and countertransferences in the supervisory relationship; the problems and uses of regression; the teach-treat dilemma; conflicts between collegiality and inequality or dependence; and the supervisor's multiple loyalties to institution, supervisee, and patients. This openness and clarity, along with a hands-on feel that includes a rich sampling of extended case vignettes, will make this book of great use to supervisors of all psychoanalytic persuasions." --Nancy J. Chodorow, PhD, psychoanalyst and author of The Power of Feelings

“Useful reading for supervisors and psychiatric residents in supervision. It illuminates important relational concepts....Offers a wonderful teaching opportunity, illustrating the diverse opinions in the field of psychoanalysis and the importance of pressing forward with a program to bring psychoanalysis and psychoanalytic supervision under the umbrella of natural science."--Canadian Journal of Psychiatry

(Canadian Journal of Psychiatry )

“A very important book. It enriches an all-too-small literature on supervision and consultation. It invites supervisors and clinical consultants to examine their theoretical positions on the supervisory process and consider their technique. Ultimately, the authors encourage the readers to challenge their underlying assumptions about the task and process of supervision and consultation. The book is rich with clear arguments and compelling examples of supervisory dyads in the midst of a complex relational process of both observation and participation....I spend a third of my professional work life as a clinical consultant and supervisor. I am delighted to have this thoughtful and thought provoking book to help me grapple with the plethora of choice points in the complex, multi-level relational process of clinical supervision."--Psychoanalysis (APA Division 39 Newsletter)

(Psychoanalysis (APA Division 39 Newsletter) )

From the Back Cover

"This book makes a major contribution to the literature. Thoughtful, scholarly, and readable, it deals with contemporary relational supervision based upon mutuality between supervisor and supervisee. This teaching-learning-experiential matrix is cogently presented and demonstrated with lively vignettes. There is much here for experienced supervisors seeking an update, novice supervisors learning the craft, and supervisors of case conferences, as well as students who are interested in how supervision works." Leopold Caligor, PhD, Training Analyst, William Alanson White Institute; Coeditor of Clinical Perspectives on the Supervision of Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy

"Over the past couple of decades, psychoanalysis has been undergoing a thorough reevaluation, recasting, and revision of all its fundamental concepts, in terms of both theory and clinical practice. Many new angles and fresh ideas about supervision have been introduced, but there has until now been no comprehensive, comparative text exploring different models of supervision, their theoretical underpinnings, and their clinical implications. This book is a timely, much-needed project. In its thoughtfulness and thoroughness, it should be of considerable use as a text for all levels of clinical training and as a stimulus for new thinking for clinicians of all persuasions."/m-/Stephen A. Mitchell, PhD, Founding Editor, Psychoanalytic Dialogues: A Journal of Relational Perspectives

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 247 pages
• Publisher: Guilford Press; 1 edition (December 6, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1572306211
• ISBN-13: 978-1572306219
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #162,380 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Supervisory Relationship, February 6, 2001

By 

David Milofsky "Jean Milofsky" (Englewood, CO USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Supervisory Relationship: A Contemporary Psychodynamic Approach (Hardcover)

Drs Sarnat and Frawley-O'Dea have made an original contribution to the literature of psychoanalysis and psychotherapy. Their discussion of the contemporary supervisory relationship is rich and alive, reaching back and forth between the dyads of supervisor/supervisee, supervisee/patient and supervisee/analyst, and seeing parallels and counterpoints in all of these. I found it particularly useful to hear how these experienced therapists lay out the supervision they endorse, how direct they are about their expectations, and how this creates an atmosphere in which growth can occur for the trainee along many dimensions. The interplay of two different treating and teaching personalities is also engaging and enlightening. The clinical material is pertinent, alive and well explicated. Among the subsidiary pleasures and benefits of this well constructed book are a review of early psychoanalytic thought about supervision which allows a review of early psychoanalytic thought itself, and a lucid discussion of contemporary relational psychotherapy. Dr Sarnat brings her remarkable synthetic powers to a unification and differentiation of many schools of thought.Both authors are disclosing in an extremely helpful way about their own training experiences and thus model an aspect of their own development in print much as I am sure they do in the consulting room. This is an outstanding book.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Usefool tool., November 2, 2010

By 

Marla Mcfadin (Oakland, California) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Supervisory Relationship: A Contemporary Psychodynamic Approach (Hardcover)

This is a very practical book. It both provides an overview and deepened understanding of some very effective ways to practice the craft of supervising psychodynamic clinical work. I enjoyed the approachable language, careful editing and organization of ideas.